DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 09 November) — At least 140 runners from different countries will participate in the 7th Mount Apo Sky and Vertical Race 2024, which is scheduled on November 30 to December 1, according to race organizers.
Doi Calbes, race director, said in a phone interview on Saturday that this year’s two-day race consists of 100km and 50km categories, as well as new categories for beginners such as 21km and 7km.
The male and female winners of the 100km category will represent the country in the Lantau race in Hong Kong in February 2025.
Among the confirmed participants are runners from the United Kingdom, the United States, and Malaysia and racers from across the Philippines.
He said organizers are working doubly hard in their preparations for the international race, which stretches from Playa De Oboza Beach Resort in Santa Cruz town, Davao del Sur, up to the peak of Mount Apo.
Runners will scale the country’s highest peak via a trail in Barangay Sibulan, Santa Cruz, which Calbes said is the “most unique” because of its scenic view of huge boulders stretching 3.5 kilometers to the summit.
He said the international race attracted numerous visitors in previous years, benefiting the local tourism industry by keeping businesses thriving while generating livelihoods and jobs for locals.
“Nowadays, sports tourism is thriving. Aside from promoting sports or running community, we also promote our tourism destination in Santa Cruz and Davao Region. We help the community and promote flights and transpiration through this event,” he said.
Mt. Apo, also a popular eco-tourism destination, was declared a heritage park through the November 29, 1984, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Declaration on Heritage Parks and Reserves.
Mt. Apo is among the eight ASEAN Heritage Parks in the Philippines and one of 38 in the 10-country regional grouping, which comprises Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
The others are Mt. Iglit-Baco National Park in Occidental Mindoro, Mt. Kitanglad Range Natural Park in Bukidon, Mt. Malindang Range Natural Park in Misamis Occidental, Mt. Makiling Nature Reserve in Laguna, Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park in Palawan, Mt. Timpoong-Hibok-Hibok Natural Monument in Camiguin, and Mt. Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary in Davao Oriental.
Mount Apo (2,954 masl) is a biodiversity hotspot. It hosts the critically endangered Philippine Eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi). It was proclaimed as a protected area under the National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 1992.
The Mount Apo Natural Park measures 54,974 hectares (with a buffer zone of 9,078 hectares), which covers Kidapawan City and Makilala and Magpet towns in Cotabato province in Soccksargen, the towns of Bansalan and Sta Cruz and Digos City in Davao del Sur, and Davao City in Davao Region.
The ASEAN Heritage Parks are defined as “protected areas of high conservation importance, preserving in total a complete spectrum of representative ecosystems of the ASEAN region” and established “to generate greater awareness, pride, appreciation, enjoyment and conservation of ASEAN’s rich natural heritage, through a regional network of representative protected areas, and to generate collaboration among ASEAN member states in preserving their shared natural heritage.”
The mountain is also of “high value” as a major water source for both regions. (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)
